The Sight of a Bubble in Dusk

Dusk awoke to Solaris's sun, which - quite unwelcomely - shone through the window of the upper floor of the library. He checked his bedside alarm to find that he had slept through half of the day, the time being 2 PM. He groaned and pulled the covers back over his head, which was beating like a taiko drum. The thoughtful unicorn went over the events of last night in his head.

Let's see... guy's night out... got drunk - which would explain the hangover... Berry and I got back here... and then it's hazy... but something else happened, I'm sure of it. What else happened?

He groaned once more and got out of bed - or rather slipped and rolled out - and began to prepare breakfast. Spines was nowhere to be found, but Dusk was quite sure that she could take care of herself in town by now, so he only made one stack of pancakes to eat and a cup of coffee to try and wake him up a bit more. Taking the plate and mug in his magic and setting himself and the meal at the dining table, he was about to start eating when suddenly he heard a loud crashing noise and saw none other than Bubble Berry himself tumbling down the stairs.

Dusk gasped, "Oh goodness! Berry, are you okay!?" He shot up out of his seat and helped his friend up. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No, Dusk, I'm fine, I just slipped down the stairs is all. Man, last night was fun, wasn't it - ooh! Pancakes!" The pony pretty much instantly shook off whatever little amount of pain and concern for himself he had as he jumped towards the stack of pancakes, devouring them in one fell swoop. "Mmm, Shiny, these are good! I didn't take you for such a good cook!"

A flat look and a similarly flat answer was given. "It's pancakes. How hard could it be to make pancakes?" He took no heed to the fact that his only stack of pancakes were eaten, and instead reached out for the dark, bitter, hot drink he'd come to love almost as much as tea. He allowed himself a sip, letting the warm liquid pass his lips, leaving them as warm as they were when the pony in front of him kissed him.

Wait. WHAT.

Dusk's mind instantly replayed the memory of Berry's drunk muzzle pressing against his as they kissed. He spat out the coffee he just sucked down as he stared blankly at Berry - who just happened to be in the firing range.

"Shiny? Why'd you just spit your coffee on me? Was it too hot? You of all ponies should know that you should let it cool first. You look like you're shocked. What'cha thinkin' about, huh?" Berry's face was dangerously close to Dusk's again. The latter instantly looked away with a blush on his face. The former just stared unblinkingly.

"D-don't you remember what happened last night?" Dusk almost shouted.

"Well, duh, silly! We went and partied, but then everypony went home, so we decided to go back here together and sleep! Though," he started giggling in-between his words, "you were pretty drunk, so I can understand why you don't!"

Dusk stared in bewilderment at the pony staring at him from on top of his dining table. D-does he not remember that he kissed me? "Um, Berry? Do you remember anything else that happened?"

The pink colt hopped down on the floor and put a hoof to his chin before answering, "Well, I remember some other stuff, but it's not important."

"NOT IMPORTANT? What do you mean "not important"!? You kissed me last night! You kissed me on the lips! You tried to stick your tongue in my mouth!" Dusk shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the pony in front of him to suddenly shy away with a visible red blush on his face.

"O-oh... did I? Well, umm..."

What? Berry's acting shy all of a sudden. That's strange... it was just a drunken mistake... right? Wait... where'd he go?

Indeed, the aforementioned pony was missing from his current spot, having bolted off while Dusk was in his mental questioning. The library doors were still swinging, in fact.

"Why did he get so nervous? We were both drunk, and I've heard around that things like that happen then... is he hiding something from me? No, it's Berry. Berry would never keep secrets from his friends..."

In any case, Dusk carried on through with his tasks. Strangely enough, he didn't catch a sight of mane or tail of his friend that day...

"Dude, where's Berry? He was supposed to meet us here! Now we have to wait to eat!"

It was a week since Dusk had last seen Berry. Honestly, he wouldn't be worried if he at least informed Mr. and Mrs. Cake that he was going somewhere. But after going to Sugarcube Corner the day beforehand, they said that he had just upped and left during the night after locking himself in his room.

Elusive, Blitz, Applejack, and Butterscotch were with him at the Hay Stack - a simple restaurant - after he had all called them there. After Rainbow's remark, the fashionable unicorn spoke up. "Honestly, Rainbow Blitz, can't you simply wait for him? I understand that you are hungry - so are the rest of us - but patience is befitting of a gentlecolt. Now, Dusk, if you wouldn't mind mentioning to us why you called us all here?"

Dusk himself wasn't feeling too well after hearing the bad news from the Cakes. He wasn't sure that the rest of their little gang would take it well, either. "W-well, guys... haven't you noticed that Berry hasn't been around lately? I just asked the Cakes, and they said that he ran away last night!"

...

...

...

"Er... guys? Why are you huddled up like that?"

Indeed, the four ponies were huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. This went on for a while, as did the growing of Dusk's frustration, before they broke up and Elusive asked, "Well, dear, that certainly is bad news! What happened?"

The lavender librarian's face grew solemn as he explained what happened after Blitz left the bar to that morning a week before - excluding the part where he got a boner before he fell asleep, of course.

"O-oh, my... that does sound serious..." the nearly mute Butterscotch commented.

"Y-you should go find him! You know, to patch things up, get him back here!" Applejack almost blurted out. Dusk could have sworn that he saw the farmpony look to his left and right while saying that...

Either way, he IS right... I should go talk to him. "Alright. I will. Thanks, guys." He stood from his seat and walked away, leaving the other four ponies to their own devices.

"So, y'all really think Berry's taken a fancyin' for Dusk, Elusive?"

"Why of course, dear! He does this every time he falls in love, doesn't he?"

"Well, now that you mention it, that last hot mare he was with last time shot him down and this happened, right?

"Oh, my... you're right..."